KINGSTON A RETURN TO ITS ROOTS
RUPCO’s plan for former Alms House, to be called Landmark Place, recalls late 19th century building’s original purpose
Even before the newly chartered Kingston city government commissioned construction of a new City Hall on Broadway, Kingston’s first mayor, James Lindsley, called for a facility to house the city’s poorest at the Common Council’s first meeting in 1872.
A commission was formed and it settled on a 21-acre site on Flatbush Avenue, on the city’s outskirts, for the new Kingston City Alms House. Construction was completed in 1874.
“The Kingston City Alms House, primarily constructed between 1872-1874, is significant ... in the area of social history for its association with the City of Kingston’s efforts to care for the poor,” says an account submitted to the National Register of Historic Places. “While the Village of Kingston intended to establish an Alms House to care for its aging and impoverished residents, it lacked the means to do so until it merged with (the Village of) Rondout to become the City of Kingston.”
The Alms House, which most recently housed Ulster County government offices, will take a kind of step back when it reopens as a RUPCO affordable housing project, known as Landmark Place, to serve the needy. Construction has not yet begun.
The original building is expected to house 34 apartments, with another 32 in a new freestanding building on the property and a superintendent’s res
idence in a 1916 cottage on the site at Flatbush Avenue and East Chester Street Bypass.
The property, like City Hall, is now on the National Register of Historic Places, given its significant place in Kingston history.
“When planning for the building, Kingston’s Almshouse Commission studied other almshouses in the region, as well as the publications of reformers who advocated for better facilities and living conditions at similar institutions,” the historical account reads.
The account, compiled by the Heritage Consulting Group of Philadelphia, details the rich history of the Alms House at 300 Flatbush Ave.:
When it was constructed, the Alms House offered housing for 150 to 200 people and was surrounded by lawns and agricultural fields, which provided work and recreation for the residents.
During its early decades, the Kingston Alms House was praised for its design, “which allowed plentiful light and air, and practices, such as separating the sexes and maintaining clean, pleasant, and sanitary facilities.
“Kingston City Alms
House also reflects shifts in health care and social welfare practices throughout the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.”
The facility remained open until 1948, then later served as the Ulster County Infirmary.
“The complex is additionally significant ... as an intact example of Italianate architecture in the City of Kingston,” the consultants said.
The Alms House was designed by John A. Wood, who is described as a prolific mid-Hudson Valley architect during the late 19th century. He began his career in Kingston during the early 1860s.
“Wood became known for his religious, hotel, and
institutional designs, and he had already designed Poughkeepsie’s Alms House by the time he was commissioned for a similar project by Kingston in 1872.
“Wood’s design for the Kingston Almshouse offered a tripartite design with simple, but bold, Italianate details, including bracketed porches, window hoods, a decorative cornice, and shallow gables emerging from flat roofs.”
But before Wood got to that point, it was at meetings of the newly formed Kingston Common Council where $25,000 was authorized to build the Almshouse. It was the first city project to be built with public funds — even before City Hall.
The city purchased a vacant 21-acre site on Flatbush Avenue for $7,000. During the early 20th century, the complex became known as the Kingston City Home.
By 1940, some residents were moved to a Ulster County-run facility in New Paltz, but the complex continued to function as an alms house until 1948, when the enterprise was dissolved and the building was vacated.
In 1954, Ulster County acquired the property and turned the Alms House into the Ulster County Chronic Infirmary. The infirmary operated until new facilities were built at Golden Hill in 1973.
When the infirmary left,
Ulster County renovated the building to house the county Health Department and other offices. The Ulster County Health Department left the site in 2014. In 2015, the property was transferred to the Ulster County Economic Development Alliance, Inc. then later sold to RUPCO.
The Landmark Place proposal, which drew considerable opposition from people who live near the site, is to be open to people ages 55 and older, along with special needs populations, including veterans, chronically homeless, and those diagnosed with mental illness or Substance Use Disorder, according to RUPCO’s website.